1 00:00:13,77 --> 00:00:20,56 Tonight university bookstore is proud to host and have with us tonight one of our 2 00:00:20,60 --> 00:00:25,64 nation's finest elected officials Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts 3 00:00:25,69 --> 00:00:31,50 thank. 4 00:00:34,79 --> 00:00:38,48 Senator Warner is going to join us and read from and discuss her book 5 00:00:38,49 --> 00:00:43,94 a fighting chance and we're thrilled to host you here tonight and it's my honor to 6 00:00:43,95 --> 00:00:47,49 introduce you Senator Warren was raised in 7 00:00:47,50 --> 00:00:50,16 a working class family in Oklahoma getting 8 00:00:50,17 --> 00:00:55,54 a college education was not assume but she pursued her dream first attending George 9 00:00:55,55 --> 00:01:00,20 Washington University and then the University of Houston where she lived after she 10 00:01:00,21 --> 00:01:05,54 was married her first child was born soon after graduation and she juggle the 11 00:01:05,55 --> 00:01:09,01 demands of motherhood with the challenges of law school at 12 00:01:09,02 --> 00:01:14,11 a time when there were few women pursuing such degrees after receiving her law 13 00:01:14,12 --> 00:01:15,07 degree she became 14 00:01:15,08 --> 00:01:21,46 a law professor eventually landing at Harvard University. Early in her career she 15 00:01:21,47 --> 00:01:26,93 began studying and teaching bankruptcy law which set her on her life's course she's 16 00:01:26,94 --> 00:01:27,25 become 17 00:01:27,26 --> 00:01:32,81 a passionate advocate for workable bankruptcy laws for economic equality and for 18 00:01:32,82 --> 00:01:34,45 consumer protection and 19 00:01:34,46 --> 00:01:39,96 a variety of governmental bodies in two thousand and eleven after being passed over 20 00:01:39,97 --> 00:01:44,65 to serve as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau which she helped 21 00:01:44,66 --> 00:01:49,68 create Elizabeth Warren declared her candidacy for the Senate and after 22 00:01:49,69 --> 00:01:54,41 a hard fought campaign she joined the upper house of Congress in two thousand and 23 00:01:54,42 --> 00:01:55,18 thirteen. 24 00:01:56,65 --> 00:02:02,96 Thank you as 25 00:02:02,97 --> 00:02:08,47 a senator she continues to advocate for economic justice and for protection against 26 00:02:08,48 --> 00:02:12,79 powerful corporate interests and she is without question one of the brightest 27 00:02:12,80 --> 00:02:15,23 lights in her party. In 28 00:02:15,24 --> 00:02:21,13 a fighting chance she discusses her years of involvement in public policy. And why 29 00:02:21,14 --> 00:02:24,97 she continues to fight ladies and gentlemen please extend 30 00:02:24,98 --> 00:02:27,42 a warm welcome to Senator Elizabeth Warren. 31 00:02:28,46 --> 00:02:35,37 Thank you. 32 00:02:37,08 --> 00:02:43,87 Thank you for I am delighted to be in Seattle I am too long and after so much time 33 00:02:43,88 --> 00:02:45,14 in the Senate to be in front of 34 00:02:45,15 --> 00:02:52,05 a live audience thank you appreciate the invitation 35 00:02:52,06 --> 00:02:56,56 Louise It is great to be here at the university bookstore as I understand it is 36 00:02:56,57 --> 00:03:03,44 called the book store I love any place that can just refer to the book store works 37 00:03:03,45 --> 00:03:08,87 and I also am delighted to be here in this church this is terrific so I appreciate 38 00:03:08,88 --> 00:03:15,15 pastor rich giving us this opportunity so I thought what I do not is that I'd read 39 00:03:15,16 --> 00:03:16,59 a little bit from the book tell you 40 00:03:16,60 --> 00:03:20,42 a little bit kind of around it so you understand what the readings are about and 41 00:03:20,43 --> 00:03:26,61 then we'll take as many questions of the answers as we possibly can and get through 42 00:03:26,62 --> 00:03:30,15 them so. I'll tell 43 00:03:30,16 --> 00:03:37,11 a bit about how this book starts this book this book so my story and it starts with 44 00:03:37,12 --> 00:03:41,09 me when I was twelve years old I was 45 00:03:41,14 --> 00:03:47,34 a late in life baby as they used to be referred to back then and my mother always 46 00:03:47,35 --> 00:03:53,26 called me the surprise. I was about thirty before I figured out what that meant. 47 00:03:54,91 --> 00:04:00,12 Oh and by the time I was twelve years old all three of my older brothers and three 48 00:04:00,28 --> 00:04:05,76 much older brothers were all in the military so they were all away from home and 49 00:04:05,77 --> 00:04:05,99 like 50 00:04:06,00 --> 00:04:11,85 a lot of families in America we had had our ups and downs through the years but at 51 00:04:11,86 --> 00:04:18,05 the point when the book starts. Other than selling carpeting my mom was 52 00:04:18,06 --> 00:04:23,18 a stay at home mom always had been and. Did my dad had 53 00:04:23,19 --> 00:04:26,14 a heart attack and die it meant 54 00:04:26,18 --> 00:04:32,58 a really long time and the hospital and without it not working 55 00:04:33,15 --> 00:04:39,79 and the bills piled up medical bills we lost the family station wagon and we 56 00:04:39,80 --> 00:04:45,41 were right on the edge of losing our home and. 57 00:04:46,73 --> 00:04:53,28 The book starts with what I think of as the day I grew up. The day I walked into my 58 00:04:53,99 --> 00:04:58,81 mother's and Daddy's bedroom and my mother had pulled her best dress out of the 59 00:04:58,82 --> 00:05:05,00 closet and it was it was an older Durance she'd had it probably ten or fifteen 60 00:05:05,01 --> 00:05:11,98 years and she was struggling zip it up and but she finally 61 00:05:11,99 --> 00:05:18,93 got zipper pulled up she was crying she wiped her eyes blower nose put on her high 62 00:05:18,94 --> 00:05:25,70 heels and walked over to the Sears to apply for 63 00:05:25,71 --> 00:05:32,14 a minimum wage job she was fifty years old and she got 64 00:05:32,15 --> 00:05:38,00 a minimum wage job which at this point in time was enough to keep 65 00:05:38,04 --> 00:05:43,79 a family of three afloat because America said a minimum wage at 66 00:05:43,80 --> 00:05:46,19 a point where someone worked kept 67 00:05:46,20 --> 00:05:53,14 a family out of poverty and so that's what my mom did. It 68 00:05:53,15 --> 00:05:53,41 was 69 00:05:54,02 --> 00:06:00,53 a rocky time for us and ultimately as I walked through the story there was no money 70 00:06:00,54 --> 00:06:01,97 for college I got 71 00:06:01,98 --> 00:06:06,14 a college scholarship and went off to George Washington University where I was 72 00:06:06,15 --> 00:06:08,76 a debater and a debater in high school G.B. 73 00:06:08,77 --> 00:06:15,68 And debater don't cross me. But. A 74 00:06:15,69 --> 00:06:21,40 boy that I've known first boy ever dated boy I dated when I was thirteen dropped 75 00:06:21,41 --> 00:06:26,57 back into my life he was seventeen at the time show at this point he was he stayed 76 00:06:26,58 --> 00:06:31,81 four years older than I was and. Dropped back into my life decided he was ready to 77 00:06:31,82 --> 00:06:35,60 get married and proposed to me and at nineteen I was 78 00:06:35,61 --> 00:06:38,48 a pretty iffy case for whether or not I was ever going to find 79 00:06:38,49 --> 00:06:43,85 a husband which my mother had made clear was my number one job in life and you know 80 00:06:43,86 --> 00:06:46,62 this is true and so I dropped out of school in 81 00:06:46,63 --> 00:06:53,05 a nanosecond and married him. But I really wanted to go back to school and 82 00:06:53,06 --> 00:06:56,53 so I ended up graduating from 83 00:06:56,59 --> 00:07:02,73 a commuter college University of Houston which in those days cost fifty dollars 84 00:07:02,80 --> 00:07:08,58 a semester. Because I grew up in an America that was investing in public education 85 00:07:09,28 --> 00:07:13,83 and so anyway what happens is we move around some we have 86 00:07:13,84 --> 00:07:20,47 a baby relatively soon and. I decided on 87 00:07:20,86 --> 00:07:25,52 my daughter's second birthday to haul off and go to law school which I mean is like 88 00:07:25,53 --> 00:07:29,83 totally not I was the first in my family to graduate from college much less the do 89 00:07:29,84 --> 00:07:32,69 something not only this but I had three more years on T.V. 90 00:07:32,70 --> 00:07:38,99 And what more did you need to know. I like to say I was the first lawyer I ever met 91 00:07:39,85 --> 00:07:45,40 so. So I hauled off and went to law school and going to law school was actually 92 00:07:46,10 --> 00:07:48,09 Norma's adventure I went to 93 00:07:48,10 --> 00:07:51,26 a state law school and I got up every morning and I would drop 94 00:07:51,27 --> 00:07:57,30 a million of my little daughter at daycare and I go into classes and then I would 95 00:07:57,31 --> 00:08:01,20 pick her up in the afternoons and we would tell each other stories about our 96 00:08:01,21 --> 00:08:05,84 adventures and she would tell me about the boy who smeared chocolate pudding in his 97 00:08:05,85 --> 00:08:10,09 hair and I would tell her about the professor who called on the coach in the back 98 00:08:10,10 --> 00:08:16,22 of the room which is true story and we would laugh hysterically and so that's where 99 00:08:16,51 --> 00:08:21,79 this part of the book that I thought I'd read about today starts so one morning 100 00:08:22,06 --> 00:08:24,60 when Amelia was little she was sitting in 101 00:08:24,61 --> 00:08:28,45 a booster chair at the kitchen table eating cereal I popped 102 00:08:28,46 --> 00:08:32,35 a few pieces of bread into our toaster oven got busy doing six other things and 103 00:08:32,36 --> 00:08:37,35 quickly forgot about the toast when I saw the smoke pouring out of the toaster oven 104 00:08:37,81 --> 00:08:42,16 I grabbed the handle pulled out the tray supposing four slices of bread that were 105 00:08:42,33 --> 00:08:47,09 on fire as in flames leaping up from them always 106 00:08:47,10 --> 00:08:53,64 a quick thinker I scream. Through the tray at the kitchen 107 00:08:53,65 --> 00:08:59,69 sink three pieces of toast hit the target the fourth went home setting the cute 108 00:08:59,70 --> 00:09:06,53 little yellow curtains on fire. I screamed again and then I grabbed the latest 109 00:09:06,54 --> 00:09:12,62 cereal bowl and threw it at the burning curtains. The milk doused most of the fire 110 00:09:13,22 --> 00:09:17,58 and I calmed down enough to realize that throwing things was probably not my best 111 00:09:17,59 --> 00:09:23,41 strategy. Then I noticed that the toaster itself was shooting sparks and seemed to 112 00:09:23,42 --> 00:09:27,45 be on fire. And been on so I got 113 00:09:27,46 --> 00:09:32,37 a glass filled it with water. Yeah exactly took 114 00:09:32,38 --> 00:09:38,28 a deep breath. And poured the water on what remained of the flaming curtains I then 115 00:09:38,29 --> 00:09:38,74 grabbed 116 00:09:38,75 --> 00:09:43,75 a towel and be on the toaster and till everything seemed quiet it cooled off and I 117 00:09:43,76 --> 00:09:48,44 could unplugged Now that may have been the year that I started so many kitchen 118 00:09:48,45 --> 00:09:50,43 fires that daddy gave me 119 00:09:50,44 --> 00:09:57,34 a fire extinguisher for Christmas. Back of the in our toaster oven had an on 120 00:09:57,38 --> 00:10:02,69 off switch and that was it on was on which meant that it was possible to leave 121 00:10:02,70 --> 00:10:07,05 toast under the little broiler all day and all night until the food burned the 122 00:10:07,06 --> 00:10:12,27 wiring melted and the whole thing burst into flames at some point I don't know when 123 00:10:12,60 --> 00:10:14,59 someone had the bright idea of adding 124 00:10:14,60 --> 00:10:19,10 a timer in an automatic shut off this simple change made it 125 00:10:19,11 --> 00:10:23,41 a whole lot harder for distracted mothers or anyone else to leave 126 00:10:23,42 --> 00:10:29,41 a broiler running until it set the kitchen on fire. Thirty years later while 127 00:10:29,42 --> 00:10:33,23 working on an article about how government could protect consumers from predatory 128 00:10:33,24 --> 00:10:39,75 financial companies do you like this transition. I thought about those old toaster 129 00:10:39,76 --> 00:10:46,29 ovens. By then it was all but impossible to buy a toaster that had 130 00:10:46,30 --> 00:10:53,07 a one in five chance of bursting into flames and burning down your house but by the 131 00:10:53,08 --> 00:10:59,51 two thousands it was possible to refinance a home with a mortgage that had 132 00:10:59,55 --> 00:11:03,13 a one in five chance of costing 133 00:11:03,14 --> 00:11:08,80 a family their home and putting them out on the street in fact it wasn't just 134 00:11:08,95 --> 00:11:15,73 possible those mortgages were bursting into flames all over the country. Why the 135 00:11:15,74 --> 00:11:22,38 difference the United States government is the difference by two thousand and seven 136 00:11:22,50 --> 00:11:24,01 the year I was writing my article 137 00:11:24,43 --> 00:11:29,63 a government agency actually monitored toasters for basic safety and if anyone 138 00:11:29,64 --> 00:11:31,23 tried to sell a toaster that had 139 00:11:31,24 --> 00:11:34,52 a tendency to burst into flames the agency would put 140 00:11:34,53 --> 00:11:40,59 a stop to it in fact government agencies ensured the basic safety of pretty much 141 00:11:40,88 --> 00:11:47,48 every basic product for sale no lead paint in children's toys no medicines laced 142 00:11:47,49 --> 00:11:53,98 with rap poison no cars without functioning brakes and no exploding toasters 143 00:11:54,44 --> 00:12:00,66 but in two thousand and seven there was no government agency that would stop the 144 00:12:00,67 --> 00:12:06,40 sale of exploding mortgages and so as you can imagine this part of the story goes 145 00:12:06,41 --> 00:12:12,12 on off into my battles in Washington now this book is 146 00:12:12,13 --> 00:12:18,26 a first hand account of what I live and what I saw up close and personal 147 00:12:18,92 --> 00:12:25,81 it tells the thread of my story but in my view it also tells the thread of 148 00:12:25,82 --> 00:12:29,56 America's story I am the daughter of 149 00:12:29,57 --> 00:12:35,82 a maintenance man who ended up in the United States Senate and sure 150 00:12:36,42 --> 00:12:43,38 I worked hard but I never forget the fact that I grew up in 151 00:12:43,39 --> 00:12:49,06 an America that was building opportunities for kids like me. 152 00:12:50,25 --> 00:12:56,47 So here's how I see this coming out of the Great Depression America made two 153 00:12:56,89 --> 00:13:00,83 fundamental decisions and they are remarkable decisions because they were not 154 00:13:00,84 --> 00:13:06,54 decisions that had been made elsewhere or that we had made before the first was 155 00:13:06,55 --> 00:13:13,43 that we put strong rules in place to help level the playing field it was all about 156 00:13:13,44 --> 00:13:13,79 having 157 00:13:13,80 --> 00:13:19,48 a cop on the BE NO ONE should be able to steal your purse on Main Street or your 158 00:13:19,49 --> 00:13:26,05 pension on Wall Street so the basic idea was about safety over time it 159 00:13:26,11 --> 00:13:31,67 also was about safe drinking water up out safe medicine and eventually about safe 160 00:13:31,68 --> 00:13:35,73 toasters that was decision number one a cop on the B. 161 00:13:36,54 --> 00:13:42,36 The second was America build a future for kids it built 162 00:13:42,37 --> 00:13:48,55 a future by investing in education so that kids could get out there and learn more 163 00:13:48,59 --> 00:13:55,58 earn more produce more it also invested in roads and bridges in 164 00:13:55,59 --> 00:14:02,25 power grids wind because nobody knew what the next great business 165 00:14:02,26 --> 00:14:07,41 idea was going to be who was going to start the next great business but we were all 166 00:14:07,42 --> 00:14:11,91 pretty sure they were going to need to be able to plug in and get power they were 167 00:14:11,92 --> 00:14:16,02 all going to need to be able to have roads to get their goods to market and they 168 00:14:16,03 --> 00:14:21,82 were all going to need workers who were well educated so we made those investments 169 00:14:21,83 --> 00:14:26,53 together so that whoever had the great idea whoever was willing to work for it to 170 00:14:26,54 --> 00:14:31,75 get out there and do it but could help produce more something that would benefit us 171 00:14:31,80 --> 00:14:38,09 all and the third investment we made this one is an extraordinary when I speak 172 00:14:38,81 --> 00:14:42,08 to something fundamental about who we are as 173 00:14:42,09 --> 00:14:48,66 a people. We decided to invest in ideas in our search 174 00:14:49,36 --> 00:14:53,85 we decided to invest in medical research and scientific research an engine nearing 175 00:14:53,86 --> 00:15:00,40 research we invested in research on the idea that if we build 176 00:15:00,48 --> 00:15:06,51 a big pipeline of ideas our kids and our grandkids would have 177 00:15:06,55 --> 00:15:13,17 opportunities that we could barely dream of so that's what we did for fifty 178 00:15:13,18 --> 00:15:19,56 years we made those investments and here's the deal they worked 179 00:15:20,23 --> 00:15:26,55 they fundamentally war so as our families got richer our country got richer and as 180 00:15:26,56 --> 00:15:33,18 our country got richer our families got richer this is the time when America 181 00:15:33,19 --> 00:15:33,65 built 182 00:15:33,82 --> 00:15:40,53 a great middle class and then about thirty years ago 183 00:15:41,09 --> 00:15:42,82 the Republicans started pushing for 184 00:15:42,83 --> 00:15:49,48 a different approach first move take the cops off the be not off 185 00:15:49,49 --> 00:15:56,12 main street of Wall Street let the big banks load up on risks let them paint 186 00:15:56,13 --> 00:16:02,46 a bull's eye on the backsides of every American family make the word deregulation 187 00:16:02,74 --> 00:16:09,68 the montra of the day that was step one and step turn cut taxes for those at 188 00:16:09,69 --> 00:16:16,23 the top open up huge tax loopholes for big corporations cut taxes for billionaires 189 00:16:16,24 --> 00:16:23,17 and for millionaires. And how are we going to pay for all those tax cuts. Easy 190 00:16:23,71 --> 00:16:29,14 by cutting investments investments in education investments in infrastructure 191 00:16:29,48 --> 00:16:35,49 investments in medical research and scientific research and what was the result 192 00:16:36,07 --> 00:16:42,83 well banks and other big corporations made huge profits billionaires kept 193 00:16:42,84 --> 00:16:48,83 more of their money and other words the rich got richer and the powerful got more 194 00:16:48,84 --> 00:16:55,80 powerful Meanwhile the middle class began to crumble the economy crashed 195 00:16:56,63 --> 00:17:03,16 and our kids may be the first kids in American history to do worse 196 00:17:03,63 --> 00:17:10,21 than their parents did now in two thousand and nine after the 197 00:17:10,72 --> 00:17:16,65 after the crash I was in Washington and I was working hard on two things 198 00:17:17,47 --> 00:17:19,03 one was to try to bring 199 00:17:19,06 --> 00:17:25,79 a little accountability to the bank bailout and it was hand to hand 200 00:17:25,81 --> 00:17:27,60 combat and I talk about that 201 00:17:27,61 --> 00:17:34,44 a whole chapter about this in the book. But the other. To try to get 202 00:17:35,06 --> 00:17:41,40 a consumer agency I was still thinking about those toasters and thinking about how 203 00:17:41,41 --> 00:17:45,89 we needed an agency in Washington not to watch out for the biggest financial 204 00:17:45,93 --> 00:17:51,24 institutions but an agency and Washington that would be there to help level the 205 00:17:51,25 --> 00:17:55,95 playing field to make sure that big corporations did not build their business model 206 00:17:56,26 --> 00:18:01,34 around tricking people are around trapping people around cheating people I wanted 207 00:18:01,38 --> 00:18:07,38 a level playing field and I wanted this agency to be part of the Dodd Frank 208 00:18:07,39 --> 00:18:12,93 financial reforms now this next part is really going to surprise you the big banks 209 00:18:12,93 --> 00:18:19,84 . I know you're shocked you know it's the whole got the whole face right 210 00:18:20,30 --> 00:18:25,11 Conan. So they hated it and let me tell you how I know that you did I know it two 211 00:18:25,12 --> 00:18:30,75 ways the first way I know that they hated it was they said so pretty publicly in 212 00:18:30,76 --> 00:18:36,55 fact they sat there and I thought the great footnotes in here they would kill the 213 00:18:36,56 --> 00:18:41,63 agency so that part has been made clear and the second way I know is that they 214 00:18:41,64 --> 00:18:47,44 spent more than a million dollars a day for more than 215 00:18:47,45 --> 00:18:54,21 a year in just lobbying expenses to kill off the 216 00:18:54,22 --> 00:19:00,77 financial reforms and in particular the little consumer agency so. I'm going to 217 00:19:00,78 --> 00:19:05,28 pick this story up again and here's we're going to pick it up the remember this is 218 00:19:05,29 --> 00:19:10,59 two thousand and nine when the Democrats still have control of the House and the 219 00:19:10,60 --> 00:19:16,99 Senate so the bill starts out financial reform starts out in the house and at the 220 00:19:17,00 --> 00:19:23,32 point I pick up here it has just made it through the house and has been sent over 221 00:19:23,33 --> 00:19:28,77 the bill has been sent over to the Senate and the big financial reform bill has as 222 00:19:28,78 --> 00:19:34,84 one of its speeches the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau the banks are not yet 223 00:19:34,85 --> 00:19:40,39 worried they're going to kill that little agency while it's over in the Senate so 224 00:19:40,43 --> 00:19:45,02 here's our pick up the story again it was Friday morning January fifteenth two 225 00:19:45,03 --> 00:19:49,51 thousand and ten in the calls started coming in early I was at home up early 226 00:19:49,58 --> 00:19:53,16 working out on the treadmill in the basement and I was still huffing and puffing 227 00:19:53,17 --> 00:19:57,26 when the phone rang for the first time had I seen this morning's Wall Street 228 00:19:57,27 --> 00:20:03,51 Journal the rumors were flying on Capitol Hill the consumer agency wasn't going to 229 00:20:03,52 --> 00:20:09,33 make it Senator Dodd in an effort to move the larger financial reform bill forward 230 00:20:09,34 --> 00:20:14,65 Senator Dodd would trade off there might be some face saving attempt to set up 231 00:20:14,66 --> 00:20:18,54 a new consumer protection department somewhere else in government but there would 232 00:20:18,55 --> 00:20:24,82 be no strong independent agency with the authority to get much of anything done 233 00:20:25,49 --> 00:20:29,54 the insider sent the word out too bad so sorry it was 234 00:20:29,55 --> 00:20:35,49 a good idea but unless the agency was dropped from the reform bill the whole 235 00:20:35,50 --> 00:20:41,57 package of legislation would fail better to toss the consumer agency overboard and 236 00:20:41,58 --> 00:20:48,56 get the rest of the reforms through I listen so this was it the 237 00:20:48,57 --> 00:20:54,51 consumer agency was dead. All families had been cheated by big banks and the credit 238 00:20:54,52 --> 00:20:59,37 card companies all the hard work by Barney the consumer groups Heather pan 239 00:20:59,41 --> 00:21:04,68 president all that knocking on doors and all those meetings and now it was coming 240 00:21:04,69 --> 00:21:08,21 to an end so I asked if there would be a vote even 241 00:21:08,22 --> 00:21:13,45 a losing vote. Or was no the death wouldn't be 242 00:21:13,49 --> 00:21:18,53 a public execution instead the Senate Banking Committee would propose 243 00:21:18,54 --> 00:21:25,50 a financial reform bill with no consumer agency in it no one in the Senate not 244 00:21:25,51 --> 00:21:32,41 a Democrat or Republican would ever have to vote against the 245 00:21:32,45 --> 00:21:39,35 agency instead it would just be suffocated quietly in its crim no one would 246 00:21:39,36 --> 00:21:46,08 ever know exactly who killed it or why so I asked my last question 247 00:21:46,91 --> 00:21:51,39 when how long before the locked in version of the bill would be introduced in the 248 00:21:51,40 --> 00:21:56,25 Senate Banking Committee with or without the consumer agency best estimate three 249 00:21:56,26 --> 00:21:59,30 weeks the deal wasn't finalized and there were still 250 00:21:59,31 --> 00:22:04,81 a lot of other moving pieces that needed to be worked out so I called Dan Dan is my 251 00:22:04,82 --> 00:22:09,17 former student who appears much in this book and kind of my wing man in Washington 252 00:22:09,85 --> 00:22:16,02 I called Dan and I said Dan we've got three weeks. Because the way I saw it 253 00:22:16,80 --> 00:22:21,59 we had nothing to lose I didn't want to chop in the capital so what did I care if I 254 00:22:21,60 --> 00:22:22,19 ticked off 255 00:22:22,20 --> 00:22:31,45 a lot of people in Washington. Thank you thank 256 00:22:31,46 --> 00:22:36,95 you this was our last chance to get the agency passed into law if we lost mail we 257 00:22:36,96 --> 00:22:41,48 lost for ever we had very little information about what had led to the latest 258 00:22:41,49 --> 00:22:45,85 assault on the agency but we did know one thing the Senate did not want 259 00:22:45,91 --> 00:22:51,45 a tough vote on this issue Dan explained what that meant the consumer agency was 260 00:22:51,46 --> 00:22:53,11 popular and to a lot of senators 261 00:22:53,28 --> 00:22:58,37 a vote on the new agency meant having to choose between angering the public and 262 00:22:58,38 --> 00:23:02,71 angering the banks and they don't want to do either they preferred 263 00:23:03,24 --> 00:23:09,63 a quiet and slightly mysterious death for the consumer agency so I figured 264 00:23:10,50 --> 00:23:16,07 to band to damn Thanks 265 00:23:16,08 --> 00:23:21,07 a bunch of Senators we're going to pick the banks over the families then the 266 00:23:21,08 --> 00:23:22,30 American public had 267 00:23:22,31 --> 00:23:26,78 a right to know and if we didn't win at least we could raise one hell of 268 00:23:26,79 --> 00:23:33,51 a stink so that's what happens next in the book. Here's what I see and here's what 269 00:23:33,52 --> 00:23:39,24 I talk about in these experiences ended up in Washington often inadvertently 270 00:23:39,82 --> 00:23:46,14 talking about the fights I got into and do understand spoiler alert. I lose one of 271 00:23:46,15 --> 00:23:52,98 these fights but not all of them but what I saw is that Washington 272 00:23:52,99 --> 00:23:59,92 works well for those who can hire armies. And lawyers It 273 00:23:59,93 --> 00:24:05,99 just doesn't work so well. For everyone else I saw it with the big banks they 274 00:24:05,100 --> 00:24:11,18 cheated American families they crashed the economy they got bailed out and now 275 00:24:11,22 --> 00:24:17,33 today the big five banks are thirty eight percent bigger 276 00:24:18,08 --> 00:24:24,08 than they were back in two thousand and eight think about them. A kid gets caught 277 00:24:24,25 --> 00:24:26,77 with a few ounces of pot and goes to jail but 278 00:24:26,78 --> 00:24:33,51 a big bank breaks the law for years by laundering drug money and nobody 279 00:24:33,55 --> 00:24:39,95 even gets arrested the game is rigged and it's not right that's what this book is 280 00:24:39,96 --> 00:24:40,25 about 281 00:24:40,26 --> 00:24:49,13 THANK 282 00:24:49,14 --> 00:24:54,56 YOU THANK YOU I mean just double down on the point because it gets not just the big 283 00:24:54,57 --> 00:25:01,41 banks look at the choices the federal government makes today our college kids are 284 00:25:01,42 --> 00:25:07,90 getting crushed by student loan debt we need to rebuild our roads and our bridges 285 00:25:07,94 --> 00:25:13,25 and our power grids we need more investment in medical research and scientific 286 00:25:13,26 --> 00:25:15,78 research but instead of building 287 00:25:15,82 --> 00:25:22,80 a future this country is bleeding billions of dollars in tax loopholes and 288 00:25:22,81 --> 00:25:29,19 subsidies that go to Rich and profitable corporations Fortune five hundred 289 00:25:29,20 --> 00:25:35,95 companies profitable companies pay zero in taxes billionaires get so 290 00:25:35,96 --> 00:25:42,32 many tax loopholes that they pay at lower rates than their secretaries but they 291 00:25:42,40 --> 00:25:49,03 have lobbyists lobbyists and lawyers and lots of Republican friends in 292 00:25:49,04 --> 00:25:55,93 Washington to protect every loophole and every privilege we have to face 293 00:25:56,32 --> 00:26:02,59 the game is rigged the rich and the powerful can protect themselves can 294 00:26:02,60 --> 00:26:09,04 rewrite the rules so that over and over and over the rules get tilted just 295 00:26:09,05 --> 00:26:12,25 a little more just a little more just 296 00:26:12,26 --> 00:26:19,14 a little more to protect them and everyone else not so much so 297 00:26:20,90 --> 00:26:27,64 we can whine about this. We can whimper about this or we can fight back 298 00:26:27,73 --> 00:26:29,33 me I'm planning to fight but 299 00:26:29,78 --> 00:26:41,06 thank 300 00:26:41,07 --> 00:26:46,97 you that is what this book is all about this book is about the fact that the game 301 00:26:46,98 --> 00:26:53,93 is rigged and that it's up to us to fix it now I want to say one more thing about 302 00:26:53,94 --> 00:27:00,64 this change is hard and when you're up against organized money and organized power 303 00:27:00,80 --> 00:27:07,35 it is really hard hard but possible that will Consumer 304 00:27:07,36 --> 00:27:12,68 Financial Protection Bureau we got it passed and. We got it 305 00:27:13,11 --> 00:27:20,00 thank you leave your 306 00:27:20,02 --> 00:27:22,41 say I cannot believe I am such 307 00:27:22,41 --> 00:27:26,14 a nerd that I was quite happy for the establishment of 308 00:27:26,14 --> 00:27:32,49 a new consumer agency. I want to remind you why that little agency is worth 309 00:27:32,50 --> 00:27:36,14 clapping for it's been in effect for in place for just 310 00:27:36,15 --> 00:27:43,01 a little over two years now and already has the largest financial institutions in 311 00:27:43,03 --> 00:27:49,47 this country to return more than three billion dollars directly to families they 312 00:27:49,49 --> 00:27:53,90 cheated that's not going thank you very much 313 00:27:53,97 --> 00:28:00,76 thanks all. The way I see this is I'm not 314 00:28:00,76 --> 00:28:07,53 ready to turn this country over to rich corporations to powerful 315 00:28:07,57 --> 00:28:13,98 individuals and to their army of lobbyists one of the ways I fight back. 316 00:28:15,57 --> 00:28:22,37 I believe in books this is this is my first book. Although I have to say the 317 00:28:22,38 --> 00:28:29,32 book party for secured transactions. Thank you thank you was 318 00:28:29,33 --> 00:28:36,01 a little. But do understand 319 00:28:37,55 --> 00:28:44,20 I wrote this book out of gratitude gratitude to my mother and father who worked 320 00:28:44,21 --> 00:28:51,08 hard all their lives who died with very little. The knowledge 321 00:28:51,67 --> 00:28:58,22 that their four kids were doing better than they did I wrote this book out of 322 00:28:58,28 --> 00:29:04,58 gratitude to an America that invested in kids that 323 00:29:04,59 --> 00:29:10,63 believed an opportunity that put money and resources behind that so that we could 324 00:29:10,64 --> 00:29:11,06 build 325 00:29:11,07 --> 00:29:17,52 a future for not just for some of our kids but for all of our kids and I wrote this 326 00:29:17,53 --> 00:29:21,35 book out of fierce determination 327 00:29:24,40 --> 00:29:31,19 that this is our moment in history and we will not turn away from it it is 328 00:29:31,34 --> 00:29:36,11 our moment when we decide what kind of a people we are and what kind of 329 00:29:36,12 --> 00:29:42,84 a country we're going to build and I believe that together we will 330 00:29:42,98 --> 00:29:47,68 build the kind of country where every kid gets 331 00:29:47,69 --> 00:29:55,27 a fighting chance. Thank you thank 332 00:29:55,94 --> 00:30:01,38 first question what should the average person be doing to support financial reforms 333 00:30:01,66 --> 00:30:02,15 and this is 334 00:30:02,16 --> 00:30:08,13 a two part how should we best lobby for the return of Glass Steagall the lessening 335 00:30:08,14 --> 00:30:13,17 derivatives Yes high frequency trading etc OK so 336 00:30:13,55 --> 00:30:15,22 a lot of questions like this let me do 337 00:30:15,23 --> 00:30:21,29 a Glass Steagall first for those of you who aren't totally up on your. Financial 338 00:30:21,30 --> 00:30:27,19 nerdy Eunice let me remind you what happens. I'll start the story in seventeen 339 00:30:27,20 --> 00:30:33,83 ninety four. But I'll tell it fast OK So roughly about every 340 00:30:33,84 --> 00:30:36,26 fifteen years America used to have 341 00:30:36,30 --> 00:30:39,20 a bust right would have booms that would have us would have booms and there would 342 00:30:39,21 --> 00:30:43,62 have us and the financial system would just completely fall apart melt down people 343 00:30:43,63 --> 00:30:46,29 lose all their money all that sort of thing we have 344 00:30:46,30 --> 00:30:49,88 a nine hundred thirty some we said we can do better than this we can put some 345 00:30:49,89 --> 00:30:52,38 regulations in place I talk partly about that put 346 00:30:52,39 --> 00:30:57,57 a cop on the beat. We can watch out for that and the second thing we said we're 347 00:30:57,58 --> 00:31:03,52 going to do is you know banking should not be so exciting. It should not be an 348 00:31:03,53 --> 00:31:08,27 exciting event so what we're going to do is we're going to separate banking your 349 00:31:08,28 --> 00:31:14,50 checking your savings account from Wall Street and other forms of risk taking and 350 00:31:14,86 --> 00:31:15,13 build 351 00:31:15,14 --> 00:31:21,03 a nice strong wall between the two and what was called last and then what happened 352 00:31:21,04 --> 00:31:26,65 you can guess the smaller banks the credit unions they were fine with this but as 353 00:31:26,66 --> 00:31:31,57 some of the financial institutions got bigger they kept pecking at the wall and 354 00:31:31,58 --> 00:31:35,50 they picked up the wall because they wanted to be able to take some of your nice 355 00:31:35,51 --> 00:31:39,86 savings and some of your nice checking account money and go gamble it on Wall 356 00:31:39,87 --> 00:31:43,65 Street because they figure they could make more money doing that and it's true they 357 00:31:43,66 --> 00:31:47,67 probably could if they take those risks in the boom times that works really well 358 00:31:47,93 --> 00:31:52,14 and do understand on the other side they were pecking on the wall to the investment 359 00:31:52,15 --> 00:31:55,78 bankers who were saying boy we would really love to be able to get to your checking 360 00:31:55,79 --> 00:32:00,02 account your savings account so both sides keep pecking on the wall mostly they get 361 00:32:00,03 --> 00:32:04,28 rebuffed until we hit the 1980's and in the one nine hundred eighty S. 362 00:32:04,29 --> 00:32:08,10 The regulators deregulation is the monitor of the day began to open 363 00:32:08,11 --> 00:32:13,87 a little holes in the wall and the to follow each other and risk start going up on 364 00:32:13,88 --> 00:32:17,52 the banking side of the house finally at the end of the ninety's Glass Steagall is 365 00:32:17,53 --> 00:32:22,68 entirely repealed and we all know what happens next right the banks really load up 366 00:32:22,69 --> 00:32:26,86 on the risk and in two thousand and eight they. Nearly bomb this economy back into 367 00:32:26,87 --> 00:32:29,30 the stone age it is not a story with 368 00:32:29,31 --> 00:32:35,85 a happy ending so as part of the financial reforms there were many of those who 369 00:32:35,86 --> 00:32:36,34 thought 370 00:32:36,38 --> 00:32:41,72 a starting place is to put. Back in place not because it is the only reform we need 371 00:32:41,73 --> 00:32:42,07 but it is 372 00:32:42,08 --> 00:32:48,58 a powerful reform that we need and would have to affect one is to reduce the risk 373 00:32:48,59 --> 00:32:53,98 Enos of the banking part which means that reduces our need to bail out because 374 00:32:53,99 --> 00:32:57,36 you've got to protect people's savings accounts and checking accounts not so much 375 00:32:57,83 --> 00:33:02,16 whatever they're doing through Wall Street investment The second thing we do is it 376 00:33:02,17 --> 00:33:06,40 simply would would bring down the size because when you've got these these 377 00:33:06,56 --> 00:33:11,74 humongous big five big six depending on how you want to count banks and you break 378 00:33:11,75 --> 00:33:16,14 them into their two component parts at least they are somewhat smaller and somewhat 379 00:33:16,15 --> 00:33:21,60 more diversified so no we couldn't get it through in the financial reforms this is 380 00:33:21,61 --> 00:33:24,88 one where the million dollars a day for well over 381 00:33:24,89 --> 00:33:31,37 a year paid off but one of the first bills that I introduced when I got to the 382 00:33:31,38 --> 00:33:38,15 United States Senate with you're going to love these co-sponsors with John McCain. 383 00:33:39,58 --> 00:33:46,40 With Maria Cantwell and thanks with Angus King an 384 00:33:46,41 --> 00:33:48,22 independent from there was 385 00:33:48,26 --> 00:33:53,42 a twenty first century Glass Steagall So we have it out there we have the bill 386 00:33:53,43 --> 00:33:58,16 pending and I look at it this way we work this it is 387 00:33:58,17 --> 00:34:03,31 a good version it accounts for changes in the financial world you know you got 388 00:34:03,32 --> 00:34:08,74 a car right these things will differently over time and it's there right now now we 389 00:34:08,75 --> 00:34:14,88 can't get it to move forward with any speed but it's there it's written it's ready 390 00:34:14,89 --> 00:34:19,30 to go and this brings us to the second part and that is what can you do about 391 00:34:19,34 --> 00:34:22,52 financial reform so I'm going to it's 392 00:34:22,53 --> 00:34:28,82 a question that's going to go through everything I talk about Neal when I see the 393 00:34:28,83 --> 00:34:32,11 world is that we're playing on 394 00:34:32,12 --> 00:34:37,95 a tilted playing field and the reason is because the richer the powerful have the 395 00:34:37,96 --> 00:34:42,25 advantages of concentrated money concentrated power and they just keep getting the 396 00:34:42,26 --> 00:34:45,79 rules rewritten in their favor and every time they're written in their favor 397 00:34:46,24 --> 00:34:49,30 they're not written in favor of everybody else so it just makes it just 398 00:34:49,31 --> 00:34:50,43 a little bit tougher and 399 00:34:50,44 --> 00:34:56,43 a little bit tougher So how do we fight back that becomes the fundamental question 400 00:34:56,87 --> 00:35:01,23 and the answer has to be we have to take advantage of what we've got we've got two 401 00:35:01,24 --> 00:35:06,96 things on our side that they don't think we have our voices and we have our votes 402 00:35:07,44 --> 00:35:12,28 and we have got to use them and knew some big time thanks I'll give you 403 00:35:12,29 --> 00:35:17,76 a small thing to do about this if you come out of this and you say you know I like 404 00:35:17,76 --> 00:35:23,35 this point you make about Glass Steagall financial reform or any other part of what 405 00:35:23,36 --> 00:35:26,51 we talk about tonight I hope we get some questions on some other topics because 406 00:35:26,51 --> 00:35:26,69 there are 407 00:35:26,69 --> 00:35:30,39 a lot of fights that I'm now involved in and Washington I would love to have 408 00:35:30,40 --> 00:35:36,25 a chance to talk about. We're going to do something about we can't just say yep 409 00:35:36,26 --> 00:35:40,74 great idea and say it to the television set we can all come in and talk to each 410 00:35:40,75 --> 00:35:47,51 other you know we've got to get this really has to be about how we reach out 411 00:35:47,71 --> 00:35:54,54 to our friends who live in other states and get them to go talk to their senators 412 00:35:54,77 --> 00:36:01,41 get them to e-mail their senators how much we contribute five dollars ten 413 00:36:01,42 --> 00:36:06,45 dollars to campaigns how much we sign petitions you think that stuff doesn't matter 414 00:36:06,56 --> 00:36:13,34 I'm here to tell you it matters and it matters big time that if we use our voices 415 00:36:13,38 --> 00:36:19,93 if we use our votes if we work collectively we really can 416 00:36:20,48 --> 00:36:27,08 change the direction of this country I not only believe it I know it I know it all 417 00:36:27,09 --> 00:36:30,05 the way down so that's what we're going to have to do on this we're talking about 418 00:36:30,06 --> 00:36:36,49 thank you next 419 00:36:36,50 --> 00:36:38,12 question comes from 420 00:36:38,16 --> 00:36:45,15 a husband and wife who between them have multiple degrees and two hundred fifty 421 00:36:45,16 --> 00:36:50,04 thousand dollars in student loans. Their question is what is your strategy to get 422 00:36:50,05 --> 00:36:56,98 the student loan bill to pass OK. So thank you so 423 00:36:56,99 --> 00:37:00,21 here's the deal our student loans are going to do this I want to do is 424 00:37:00,22 --> 00:37:03,95 a couple of different ways. I was 425 00:37:03,96 --> 00:37:08,28 a baby Senator starting out last what it would be 426 00:37:08,32 --> 00:37:12,82 a year ago January right January of two thousand and thirteen and if you can love 427 00:37:12,83 --> 00:37:16,14 this park. I'm going to have an office they put me in 428 00:37:16,15 --> 00:37:22,07 a twenty or. So long and complicated story about the Senate moves on Senate 429 00:37:22,08 --> 00:37:27,76 Standard Time so it to look we have twelve newcomers in our twelve senators 430 00:37:27,77 --> 00:37:33,71 obviously who last at stated one hundred it took seven months. For the Senate to 431 00:37:33,72 --> 00:37:37,40 decide who was going to have what office as we move forward. 432 00:37:40,36 --> 00:37:45,83 But there I was sitting in my trailer. Thinking about I'm 433 00:37:45,84 --> 00:37:52,57 a senator now I'm livin large and I'm. OK so I got to tell you the story so I 434 00:37:52,86 --> 00:37:54,80 I had been a senator for like an hour and 435 00:37:54,81 --> 00:38:00,67 a half when the security people come to tell you all the things that can happen now 436 00:38:00,68 --> 00:38:06,61 that you're a senator and what to do about them so it was things like if you see 437 00:38:06,62 --> 00:38:13,16 a green gas coming through your air vents I'm not kidding you it was grab your keep 438 00:38:13,17 --> 00:38:19,23 this helmet thing in your drawer and maybe put it on so I know how to put it on and 439 00:38:20,08 --> 00:38:25,98 and they go through all this if you hear gunfire and lock your door. I'm not 440 00:38:25,99 --> 00:38:32,44 kidding so I go through everything fire pestilence Floyd all those things and he's 441 00:38:32,45 --> 00:38:36,00 checking the offices for the three of them certainly checks off very sober about 442 00:38:36,01 --> 00:38:39,79 this and I'm like really every time he does throughways I mean really at the time 443 00:38:39,80 --> 00:38:45,70 he has item number fourteen I'm rethinking the whole Senate thing and so finally he 444 00:38:45,71 --> 00:38:51,07 gets to he looks up and says I'm to the last item on my list and he said tornadoes 445 00:38:51,07 --> 00:38:57,60 . I said yeah and you set so he said you will be pleased to know that the 446 00:38:57,61 --> 00:39:03,68 Capitol and the Senate office buildings or Bill with you know fourteen and schtick 447 00:39:03,69 --> 00:39:10,66 rolls with steel reinforcement him you know. For his hammer you know the lawyer and 448 00:39:11,07 --> 00:39:15,52 so he goes on and on it you know and are strong and it's and he said so he said the 449 00:39:15,53 --> 00:39:21,07 official advice to senators is shelter in place. And you look so. 450 00:39:22,94 --> 00:39:27,06 You however. Live in 451 00:39:27,07 --> 00:39:32,72 a trailer. And I said yes and. 452 00:39:34,62 --> 00:39:41,44 My advice to you run. Out. Of the center of my office thinking 453 00:39:41,45 --> 00:39:48,36 about this living large Like I said and the first bill I ever proposed I walked on 454 00:39:48,37 --> 00:39:54,74 the Senate floor and laid it down and it was to say that student loans students 455 00:39:54,80 --> 00:39:59,71 should be able to borrow money at the Fed discount window the same way the largest 456 00:39:59,72 --> 00:40:03,65 financial institutions do for the same little fraction of 457 00:40:03,66 --> 00:40:10,91 a thank 458 00:40:10,92 --> 00:40:15,75 you I really believe that's true but the point I wanted to make is that every time 459 00:40:15,76 --> 00:40:21,73 we lend money to anybody if we are doing it and blow cost we are making an 460 00:40:21,74 --> 00:40:26,37 investment and asked between the biggest financial institutions and our students I 461 00:40:26,38 --> 00:40:32,09 would want to make the investment at least on an equal basis with our students now 462 00:40:32,76 --> 00:40:37,62 I did them I don't think anybody would actually Well I think anybody I thought 463 00:40:37,63 --> 00:40:41,84 everybody would rise up and say that makes so much sense but I got nineteen people 464 00:40:42,26 --> 00:40:48,69 who voted for them ultimately on that bill didn't win but this time around we got 465 00:40:48,70 --> 00:40:54,35 a new bill and here's the new bill so for all of you and by the way co-sponsors 466 00:40:54,63 --> 00:41:00,49 include Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell thank you thank you 467 00:41:00,50 --> 00:41:02,44 thank you for 468 00:41:02,45 --> 00:41:06,61 a reason I am happy to be in Washington is on this bill and here is what the bill 469 00:41:06,62 --> 00:41:12,84 proposes it says that we're going to take the listen to me on these numbers the one 470 00:41:12,96 --> 00:41:19,37 point two trillion dollars outstanding in student loan debt. Think about that 471 00:41:19,91 --> 00:41:26,10 forty million Americans are on the hook right now for student loan debt we are 472 00:41:26,11 --> 00:41:30,84 going to take that money and we're going to refinance it down to 473 00:41:30,85 --> 00:41:34,51 a lower interest rate now that may not sound like 474 00:41:34,52 --> 00:41:36,23 a lot by itself but I just want to take 475 00:41:36,44 --> 00:41:41,22 a little bit about the realities about where that money is right now right now if 476 00:41:41,23 --> 00:41:41,80 you have 477 00:41:41,81 --> 00:41:45,32 a home most of you know in this current low interest rate environment you can 478 00:41:45,33 --> 00:41:49,83 refinance or get a lower interest rate businesses have already refinanced down to 479 00:41:49,84 --> 00:41:56,48 a much lower interest rate. Townships municipalities have refinance students don't 480 00:41:56,49 --> 00:41:59,61 have that opportunity show if you've got a student want 481 00:41:59,62 --> 00:42:05,84 a few years ago and got hit at the seven percent interest rate eight percent nine 482 00:42:05,85 --> 00:42:08,87 percent just wave when I hit your number ten percent 483 00:42:09,24 --> 00:42:16,03 a leavened percent OK and it keeps on going people are stuck in those loans 484 00:42:16,26 --> 00:42:22,12 and now here comes the genuinely shocking part about this so we've got people 485 00:42:22,13 --> 00:42:27,07 trapped in these high interest loans guess what that does for the U.S. 486 00:42:27,08 --> 00:42:33,43 Budget the federal government is making tens of billions of 487 00:42:33,54 --> 00:42:40,52 dollars in profits off the student loan program just the cohort of loans 488 00:42:40,86 --> 00:42:45,98 from two thousand and seven to two thousand and twelve just that will slice is on 489 00:42:46,02 --> 00:42:52,84 target to make sixty six billion dollars in profits for the United 490 00:42:52,85 --> 00:42:56,21 States government that's after the bad debt losses after the administrative cost 491 00:42:56,25 --> 00:43:02,30 after the cost of funds. Think about that So here's what the bill proposes the bill 492 00:43:02,31 --> 00:43:08,50 says we're going to refinance down to the interest rates that the Republicans just 493 00:43:08,51 --> 00:43:11,23 agreed to last year everybody voted on 494 00:43:11,24 --> 00:43:14,87 a majority of Democrats and all of the Republicans simply all the Republicans voted 495 00:43:14,88 --> 00:43:19,34 for which is three point six percent for undergrad loans little bit higher for 496 00:43:19,35 --> 00:43:23,63 graduate student loans we're going to refinance all that debt down and how are we 497 00:43:23,64 --> 00:43:29,69 going to plug the hole in the budget the answer is we're going to close up the tax 498 00:43:29,70 --> 00:43:33,43 loopholes and pass the Buffett Rule. So 499 00:43:33,47 --> 00:43:40,37 thank you for the right thing to 500 00:43:40,38 --> 00:43:47,06 do for students but this is the the the strongest reminder that I can make 501 00:43:48,00 --> 00:43:51,35 when we decide how we're going to spend our money as 502 00:43:51,36 --> 00:43:57,58 a country we can spend billions of dollars in tax loopholes for billionaires or we 503 00:43:57,59 --> 00:44:03,07 can spend billions of dollars to bring down the interest rate I do understand the 504 00:44:03,08 --> 00:44:06,60 government actually at three point six percent still makes a profit it's just 505 00:44:06,61 --> 00:44:10,27 a whole lot smaller profit and the number I pick because the Republicans had 506 00:44:10,28 --> 00:44:13,71 already voted for it earlier. It's 507 00:44:13,78 --> 00:44:20,29 a reminder this is about economics it's about power Yeah but it is about 508 00:44:20,33 --> 00:44:26,69 values and we need to spend our money in alignment with our values so the way I see 509 00:44:26,70 --> 00:44:27,49 this is we've got 510 00:44:27,50 --> 00:44:31,89 a choice right in front of us on this bill we've got more than thirty Democratic 511 00:44:31,90 --> 00:44:34,85 co-sponsors already in the Senate and there is 512 00:44:34,86 --> 00:44:37,58 a choice that we're going to put to the Senate and 513 00:44:37,59 --> 00:44:41,22 a choice that I hope everybody in America sees as 514 00:44:41,23 --> 00:44:45,76 a country we can decide to invest in billionaires in people who've already made it 515 00:44:46,02 --> 00:44:51,19 or we can decide to take dollar for dollar exactly that same money and invest in 516 00:44:51,20 --> 00:44:52,70 people who are trying to get 517 00:44:52,74 --> 00:45:03,22 a start in the right thank you thank 518 00:45:03,23 --> 00:45:06,96 you just saying one more thing about this because I feel so strongly about this 519 00:45:07,67 --> 00:45:14,03 this is the one again we have got to make our voices heard on this the difference 520 00:45:14,12 --> 00:45:19,41 between this just happens in Washington and on the floor and this happens because 521 00:45:19,42 --> 00:45:25,83 people across this country pay attention because they insist insist that we talk 522 00:45:25,84 --> 00:45:26,71 about this is 523 00:45:26,72 --> 00:45:32,46 a country is huge so when you leave here bank on students that's the title of the 524 00:45:32,47 --> 00:45:39,06 bill go Google it go saw my one of the petitions being able to stand up and talk 525 00:45:39,07 --> 00:45:43,56 about how many people have said to the United States Senate to the House of 526 00:45:43,57 --> 00:45:46,81 Representatives this is the bill we want it makes 527 00:45:46,82 --> 00:45:50,93 a difference and understand this we make them vote on it we make 528 00:45:50,94 --> 00:45:52,16 a vote on it we make 529 00:45:52,17 --> 00:45:56,74 a vote on it and if they want to vote for billionaires and vote against students 530 00:45:56,96 --> 00:45:58,53 then let them do it in 531 00:45:58,54 --> 00:46:03,14 a very public way just like with the consumer agency and then go home and explain 532 00:46:03,15 --> 00:46:04,05 it to THANK YOU 533 00:46:04,06 --> 00:46:12,70 THANK 534 00:46:12,71 --> 00:46:18,98 YOU THANK YOU. All right this is for I don't feel strongly about any of this. This 535 00:46:18,99 --> 00:46:19,11 is 536 00:46:19,12 --> 00:46:24,36 a question from Katharine soon what is your advice to young women hoping to have 537 00:46:24,37 --> 00:46:30,01 a career in public service OK Katherine what is my advice to young women who want 538 00:46:30,02 --> 00:46:30,19 to have 539 00:46:30,20 --> 00:46:35,10 a career in public service the answer is just do it. Know what so much or use that 540 00:46:35,11 --> 00:46:40,26 slogan. But actually I want to hear I will tell you 541 00:46:40,27 --> 00:46:42,01 a story that's in the book there's 542 00:46:42,02 --> 00:46:48,96 a lot of stuff in the book SPOILER ALERT I do decide to run for the. Which 543 00:46:48,97 --> 00:46:54,06 is even better but the question about whether or not I'm going to run for the 544 00:46:54,07 --> 00:46:59,45 United States and I'm going to keep in mind I have never ever run for anything I 545 00:46:59,46 --> 00:47:03,64 don't run for public office I hadn't done the kind of you get in there when you 546 00:47:03,65 --> 00:47:07,30 were in for city council and you're right and do all those things so this was 547 00:47:07,47 --> 00:47:14,37 pretty shocking to me Patty Murray was the person who was recruiting persons 548 00:47:14,94 --> 00:47:18,72 to run for the United States and she called me and she said I think I'll run for 549 00:47:18,73 --> 00:47:22,97 United States Senate and I know. What 550 00:47:22,98 --> 00:47:29,43 a lot of women do. There are things I don't know. Kept 551 00:47:29,44 --> 00:47:34,08 explaining you know my resume doesn't have I didn't have this particular experience 552 00:47:34,09 --> 00:47:38,35 or that. She says Oh please. 553 00:47:43,38 --> 00:47:46,99 Never ask if they're qualified they don't say how much money we 554 00:47:47,54 --> 00:47:56,66 thank 555 00:47:56,67 --> 00:48:01,75 you some fun idea once once I just tell you to run one of the first things I 556 00:48:01,76 --> 00:48:07,33 noticed was there were little girls who showed up and I mean sometimes little tiny 557 00:48:07,37 --> 00:48:11,34 sometimes bigger than tiny but little girls who showed up at various campaign 558 00:48:11,35 --> 00:48:14,30 events they'd show. And I made 559 00:48:14,31 --> 00:48:21,26 a point early on every single time. I see her at her 560 00:48:21,27 --> 00:48:22,35 level you can always tell I'm 561 00:48:22,64 --> 00:48:29,62 a teacher and I would say my name is Elizabeth I'm running for the United 562 00:48:29,63 --> 00:48:33,16 States Senate because that's what girls. 563 00:48:34,74 --> 00:48:44,85 THANK 564 00:48:44,86 --> 00:48:49,25 YOU THANK YOU promises so that we would remember we have lots of pictures of Pinky 565 00:48:49,26 --> 00:48:54,59 promises we've got another one OK if you want to OK. In one thousand nine hundred 566 00:48:54,60 --> 00:48:59,17 six Social Security was fixed for the next seventy five years by Reagan and 567 00:48:59,18 --> 00:49:05,05 Greenspan what happened. Now it's already going to Greenspan and here to talk about 568 00:49:05,06 --> 00:49:09,45 that. So here's the deal on Social Security I make 569 00:49:09,46 --> 00:49:15,61 a couple points on such good Social Security has been changed. Thirty plus times 570 00:49:15,75 --> 00:49:20,30 through the years because the country changes people live longer the number of 571 00:49:20,51 --> 00:49:27,48 women working shifts. How much people are in kind of the curves and until 572 00:49:27,49 --> 00:49:33,85 the eighty's these were pretty non-controversial changes. The demographers would 573 00:49:33,86 --> 00:49:38,03 come in and they'd show you how the numbers were running and you kind of would if 574 00:49:38,19 --> 00:49:45,12 you DID SHE was the tax on Social Security to get it right so that Social 575 00:49:45,13 --> 00:49:51,11 Security would be secure forever and would be able to pay at what inflation 576 00:49:51,12 --> 00:49:57,28 adjusted would be about the same amount of money and when we had it the last time 577 00:49:57,29 --> 00:50:02,06 in the eighty's part of the mistake in my view was to ever describe it as it is 578 00:50:02,07 --> 00:50:07,40 fixed No it's fixed until we have more information about what's happening about how 579 00:50:07,41 --> 00:50:12,81 long people live and so on but the other one was that we didn't inflation adjust on 580 00:50:12,82 --> 00:50:19,00 the revenue side so. The benefits kept going up with 581 00:50:19,01 --> 00:50:25,95 inflation but the cap on how much of your income would be subject to 582 00:50:25,96 --> 00:50:31,21 Social Security didn't. And I just pointed out it's a math problem it's not 583 00:50:31,22 --> 00:50:32,50 a policy proposal just 584 00:50:32,51 --> 00:50:39,22 a math problem that if it had adjusted for inflation having problems with Social 585 00:50:39,23 --> 00:50:42,83 Security they just wouldn't move together and get no it's not that you would have 586 00:50:42,84 --> 00:50:43,22 to temper 587 00:50:43,23 --> 00:50:47,55 a little bit around the edges but basically it would all it would all work so 588 00:50:47,56 --> 00:50:54,35 here's the deal now it's gotten caught in this political. And it goes 589 00:50:54,36 --> 00:50:58,55 back once again to a fundamental question about who we are as 590 00:50:58,56 --> 00:51:05,49 a people and what it is we're we believe in me I believe 591 00:51:05,54 --> 00:51:10,11 we have got to solve this problem we have got to not only make sure that Social 592 00:51:10,12 --> 00:51:16,88 Security is there and that it works for the rest of. What is our timeline that we 593 00:51:16,89 --> 00:51:22,30 can see but basically for the rest of this century but it is also time now that we 594 00:51:22,31 --> 00:51:23,07 are caught in 595 00:51:23,08 --> 00:51:29,75 a retirement crisis remember the other part of what happens in our time 596 00:51:29,99 --> 00:51:30,86 we now live in 597 00:51:30,87 --> 00:51:35,93 a world where the defined benefit plans disappearing something that was there still 598 00:51:35,99 --> 00:51:39,32 back in the seventy's and into the eighty's we live in 599 00:51:39,33 --> 00:51:46,22 a world where families have been under such financial stress. That 600 00:51:46,23 --> 00:51:51,46 they have been able to say just keep in mind the median family and one hundred 601 00:51:51,47 --> 00:51:54,92 seventy one was able to put away about eleven percent of their take home pay and 602 00:51:54,93 --> 00:51:58,48 savings the median family by two thousand and one was putting 603 00:51:58,49 --> 00:52:05,46 a ways. And in fact head over heels in debt and we have watched the number 604 00:52:05,47 --> 00:52:11,54 one retirement plan in America which was pay off your house and live on your Social 605 00:52:11,55 --> 00:52:18,23 Security. Here with the bottoming out of the housing market that 606 00:52:18,24 --> 00:52:18,77 now is 607 00:52:18,78 --> 00:52:23,57 a moment when we have to think not only about how we stabilize Social Security 608 00:52:23,76 --> 00:52:28,71 going forward to make sure it's there for everyone who's paid in but how it is we 609 00:52:28,72 --> 00:52:33,27 think about those payments so that we readjust them so that for the fourteen 610 00:52:33,28 --> 00:52:39,95 million Americans for whom social security is all that stands between them and 611 00:52:40,02 --> 00:52:46,48 poverty for those who most depend on it the. Payments will be 612 00:52:46,52 --> 00:52:51,76 increased and that we will have the ability in the United States to say to everyone 613 00:52:52,21 --> 00:52:52,54 after 614 00:52:52,55 --> 00:52:56,78 a lifetime of work you can retire with dignity because that's the kind of country 615 00:52:56,79 --> 00:52:57,97 we are so 616 00:52:58,20 --> 00:53:06,58 thank 617 00:53:06,59 --> 00:53:11,16 you I have one final question one final question make a good one OK it's 618 00:53:11,17 --> 00:53:17,27 a paragraph Oh OK. Then you know I was down. Do you know about our state initiative 619 00:53:17,28 --> 00:53:24,18 thirteen twenty nine. Yes seeking to join sixteen other states that have 620 00:53:24,19 --> 00:53:25,10 already passed such 621 00:53:25,11 --> 00:53:30,36 a resolution to reduce the influence of big money in elections and to clarify that 622 00:53:30,37 --> 00:53:34,59 the Bill of Rights is for people not artificial and if you use that great ration 623 00:53:34,63 --> 00:53:41,12 right OK yes thanks so much to start this by 624 00:53:41,13 --> 00:53:43,00 saying after being 625 00:53:43,01 --> 00:53:47,19 a law professor for more than twenty five years the idea of amending the United 626 00:53:47,20 --> 00:53:53,73 States Constitution makes my. Eyelashes get frizzy I mean I just think it's not 627 00:53:53,74 --> 00:53:58,70 a place I want to go but the United States Supreme Court has given us no choice we 628 00:53:58,71 --> 00:54:00,11 are going to have to amend the punch 629 00:54:00,19 --> 00:54:07,19 thang now what I want to do 630 00:54:07,23 --> 00:54:13,14 is I just want to angle off to say it and say it as bluntly as I can every time I 631 00:54:13,15 --> 00:54:17,75 talk about the tilde in the playing field I talk about the million dollars 632 00:54:17,76 --> 00:54:22,51 a day that was against the consumer agency the fact that they're still out there 633 00:54:22,83 --> 00:54:28,50 pounding on the door they still walk through Washington walk through the halls of 634 00:54:28,51 --> 00:54:33,31 Congress blocking legislation they don't like trying to roll over the agencies. 635 00:54:34,90 --> 00:54:36,21 Money has 636 00:54:36,22 --> 00:54:42,93 a corrupting influence and we can never fix it perfectly but the Supreme Court 637 00:54:43,02 --> 00:54:49,83 has taken us so far out of line that we the people have got to push back 638 00:54:51,49 --> 00:54:57,96 I wrote this book as I said earlier out of gratitude. Out of determination 639 00:54:58,76 --> 00:55:04,67 so I want to say tonight how grateful I am to every one of you for showing up here 640 00:55:05,02 --> 00:55:06,37 for showing up to talk about 641 00:55:06,38 --> 00:55:12,90 a book for showing up to talk about ideas for showing up. To think about 642 00:55:13,12 --> 00:55:17,63 just for an evening. What kind of a people we are and what kind of 643 00:55:17,64 --> 00:55:24,36 a country we're going to build going forward one of the things that's clear in this 644 00:55:24,37 --> 00:55:25,20 book if you get 645 00:55:25,21 --> 00:55:31,69 a chance to read it is I didn't set my pen there was no secret 646 00:55:31,70 --> 00:55:37,36 desire somewhere in my heart that someday I would be 647 00:55:37,37 --> 00:55:43,87 a You Tube star. With someone on the other end 648 00:55:44,75 --> 00:55:49,11 point and stick. There was nowhere in here that there was 649 00:55:49,12 --> 00:55:52,100 a secret desire to do anything other than the one thing I announce right at the 650 00:55:53,01 --> 00:55:54,94 beginning I always wanted to be 651 00:55:54,95 --> 00:56:01,87 a teacher. That's what I wanted to do all my life but this is our moment 652 00:56:01,88 --> 00:56:08,58 in history and I'm not going to let this moment pass and say I 653 00:56:08,59 --> 00:56:15,13 turned the other way when the big corporations just took over this country that I 654 00:56:15,14 --> 00:56:21,49 turned the other way when money and influence in Washington meant that we were. 655 00:56:23,44 --> 00:56:29,86 That don't work for America's families they just work for those who already have 656 00:56:29,87 --> 00:56:34,70 power and privilege and so I wrote this book as 657 00:56:34,71 --> 00:56:40,49 a way to fight back when I go around and do my best to talk to people about this 658 00:56:40,50 --> 00:56:47,43 book because I really hope that you'll be part of this fight 659 00:56:48,65 --> 00:56:53,25 the only way. Way that our kids are going to have 660 00:56:53,26 --> 00:56:55,21 a future that our grandkids are going to have 661 00:56:55,22 --> 00:57:02,03 a future is if we talk about our values if we use our voices 662 00:57:02,27 --> 00:57:08,90 if we use our most. Thank you for being here tonight but more than anything else 663 00:57:09,59 --> 00:57:12,47 please be part of this fight this is how we're going to.